


Growing Pains

by Royalrastafariannaynays



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Just Add Kittens, sorry about that haha, the ending is the canon divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 11:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16174226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Royalrastafariannaynays/pseuds/Royalrastafariannaynays
Summary: Four times Alphonse Elric took care of others, and one time they took care of him back.





	Growing Pains

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KiannaCat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiannaCat/gifts).



Before the armor, Alphonse was a kind child. Not to say that he was an unkind child _after_ the armor, but before… he was more carefree. Quiet, and not spending too much time with the children in town aside from his brother and the Rockbell girl. But his laughter was light and fond and he could hold a butterfly in his fist without crushing it. He would let animals follow him around, he would hug his mother every time he came inside, and if someone on a nearby stretch of land got sick, he would be there on their doorstep the next day. The older one, Edward, came along, if only to frown about less playtime and too much time taking their mom’s casseroles to old ladies. 

It's no wonder Alphonse ended up collecting an injured bird from next to his window. The bird was soft and pecked at his fingers quite a lot once he reached them into its little cage. But he healed it. Al hand-fed it small bugs, and left a container of seeds and some water for it. And with time, food, and attention, the animal healed.

\----------

Several years later.

Alphonse Elric wakes up.

Wherever he is, it's dark and quiet. But a pinprick of light sights him. It flickers, like candles, or a fire. But blue, like alchemy. The light begins to move toward him, as if independent in space. It gets closer, and closer, and so close that it feels like it might absorb him, that little dot of light. The firefly in the dark of… wherever he is.

Before he knows what’s going on, he's inside the light. So small, but so large. Everything looks familiar, but at the same time, everything looks different. 

His hands are shaking and his arms are... he can't feel them. He can't feel anything. 

“Brother?” he asks. Yes, Ed. Where is Ed? 

There’s a strange metallic sound as he moves his head to glance around. And he sees Edward there, bleeding out on the floor. 

He sees the monstrosity they made. 

He can’t throw up, or he would. He picks up his brother.

It’s so light, his brother’s body. He’s got weak and rudimentary bandages tightened around his leg, but not his arm. Al panics, and starts to run. He curls his arms and runs all the way to granny's. 

She looks at him, and rushes them in. 

Al is moved into the corner. There are no questions of who he is, or how he got to be so tall. 

A mirror tells him everything he needs to know. 

That’s why he can’t feel, huh? 

He’s pinned to the inside of a cage of metal, like a moth, struck through the thorax and unable to escape even if he’s already technically dead.

Is it his job, now? 

To take care of Ed? To watch after brother?

\----------

After that military guy, Horseman or whatever his name was, leaves…

Ed changes.

He goes from sad and defeated, crippled and bound to a chair, and leaps up into activity.

He says a thing or two about getting their bodies back. About getting _Al’s_ body back. 

From then, Edward is a single-minded machine. He gets on his feet from automail surgery in record time. He takes long runs, even through the throbbing in his stumps. Sleeping deeply, eating a _lot_ , and doing his best to get back to what teacher taught them are only a few of the changes. 

During these long runs of his, Alphonse stays at the house. He sits outside, trying to feel the sun on his nonexistent skin. He sits there until everyone goes to bed, and then he goes inside to read and do the research brother wants him to do. He’s not sure if it’s right or not. But he wants to feel again. He wants to eat again.

Pointless or not. 

One night, Alphonse hears a mewling come from within his armor. 

It shocks him, and he nearly leaps up, were it not for the healthy dose of caution he stores beneath the helmet. Opening the front chassis reveals something entirely unexpected. 

It’s a kitten. A _kitten_. And it’s not afraid of him? 

The baby is old enough to no longer need milk, but it still toddles a bit as it tumbles out of his armor and onto the stair beneath him. 

“Where did you come from?” he asks, not expecting a response.

He gets one anyway, in the form of a very soft cry. Is it hungry? Where is its family? 

After a bit of looking around, and not seeing anyone or anything that might indicate where the rascal came from, Al decides to get it something to eat. He disappears inside the house and returns, clunking, with a bit of cut up fish from the other night. 

The kitten eats happily, purring like a motor even through the bites. 

Huh.

The next night, and the night after, and every night after that for a month or so, he goes out and feeds the kitten. It grows, learns to pounce on things, Even catches a few bugs. It only ever comes out from beneath the house at night, and only when he’s around. 

Of course, Pinako catches him feeding it before too long. But before she can open her mouth to scold him, the kitten trundles up to his feet and deposits a still-warm dead mouse on the dirt. 

Pinako decides that it can stay. She needs a new mouser, anyway. 

\-----------

May is… she’s May. 

She looks like she’s the age Al was when he… got stuck to a seal. Her alkahestry is powerful and doubtlessly useful. She’s reckless, compassionate, and full of energy for exerting all of those things. And she’s here for the stone, as well. 

He’ll help protect her too, you guess. 

\----------

Yet again, he wakes up, and it’s dark. 

But this time, instead of the tiny light, Alphonse opens his eyes.

He can smell… something. Coffee? A bit of tobacco. And he’s cold on the nose, but tightly bound in blankets, otherwise. He can smell. He can…

He can feel! 

He sits straight up, gasping with excitement, and hears a commotion from a few feet away. The white cuffs on his wrists are stiff, new. And when he touches his chest, it’s covered with a waistcoat. So he’s wearing real clothes! 

“You’re awake,” he hears. And when he looks up, Ed is there. Smiling like he’s never seen anything better. “Finally.”

“I have a body?” Al asks, looking back at his hands in amazement. He turns them over and over, grinning. And then abruptly feels very weak. He’s falling, and Ed catches him after a quick scramble. 

“Whoa. Careful. That body hasn’t been used in awhile,” he teases. 

Ed lays him back down. 

“Brother?” Al asks, with a real human mouth. And human tongue, and teeth! And breath. He inhales, smells the gasoline of the train and the wood of the bench. 

“Yeah, Al?” he asks, tucking blankets back in around his dearest brother.

“How did this happen?” Al asks around a yawn. 

“I’ll explain once we’re back home,” Ed says. “My turn to take care of you.” 

“Okay,” Al says, around an even bigger yawn. He’ll wake up again. And sleep has never felt so tempting. 

“Everyone’s waiting for us back in Central,” Ed says as he sits back down, picking his coffee up in the hand he’s not using to flatten his vest. He just keeps smiling. And he looks so tired, but so calm. 

“You’re so happy,” Alphonse murmurs, even as his lids are falling shut. 

“And you’re emaciated,” Ed says, but Al can tell he’s just being snarky because he’s embarrassed. “Now go to sleep. Gracia will want to fix you as soon as she sees you.”

“Okay,” Al repeats, one more time. “Love you, Brother.” 

“Love you too, Al.”

“Thank you, Brother.”

“I’m just glad you’re back.”

**Author's Note:**

> hey! this is a short lil fic dedicated to littlebird12j on tumblr! i hope you liked it dear! i love u all and hope everyone who reads this has a good week <3


End file.
